Wasteland
by HelloHelpMe
Summary: The first thing Raven noticed was the confused look upon the creature. Four broken pillars of ashen wings jutted from its clotted shoulders and back. The wings hung like a banner in defeat. The winged creture bowed his head in greeting.
1. The Apparition

Woo! First fic! Be nice, plz and forgive the typos, it's about 1:00AM.

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The sun was rising on the horizen. Golden light shimmered on the water and on the rooftopes of Jump City. It lept from the rooves and the saltwater to the Titan Tower windows. It danced from pane to pane but shied suddenly from a wall that hid pains within it. Inside the walls rested a room that resided in pitch blackness and over the darkness crackled a dark aura. A huanted teenager twisted and turned in a sleep filled with demons but she did not dream.

"Trigon..." A whisper escaped from her.

"Raven!" Her friends banged on the door worriedly. "Raven!"

Sharply conscious of her name being called, she flinched awake. The energy that had surged around her so strongly died all at once.

"I'm fine," she said as much to herself as to Starfire, Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg. She opened her door, not sparing a glance for any of them. "I'm fine," she repeated. "No need to hang over me."

Beast Boy timidly questioned, "What happened?"

"It was only a dream." Her voice was a monotone.

"Friend Raven, if something is wrong, you may tell us." The Tameranian tilted her head. Cyborg and Robin stared silently pondering the truth of Raven's words. But she seemed normal as she walked to the kitchen and warmed a cup of tea. The group eventully left their team mate alone to carry on with her life. It wasn't but five minutes later that Beast Boy realized that he'd walked out of the kitchen without food. His stomach knawed at himand despite the warnings from the other Titans, he crept back into the kitchen.

Raven was slumped on the floor as themicrowave hummed. She didn't seem to notice Beast Boy's rumaging throught the fridge. Once he had found something that would satisfy him, he stole one quick glance at Raven. An ache passed through her, part of a pain buried for years. Hurt was there. She trembled slightly and then snapped from her daze.

"Okay?"

"Yes," she threw out, pressing her fingers to her temple a moment before giveing a glare. "Yes, of course."

"You sure?"

Raven tried for a haughty look and said, "for the sixth time, yes."

Beast Boy shrugged shrugged, still concerned but not pressing the matter further. Once he left, Raven put the tea out of the microwave, sampling a taste and then discarding it on the counter. She retreated to her room. Emotion from the 'dream' surged back in full force. She nearly swayed from its power. Trigon was a name not to be spoken aloud, no matter how hushed the whisper. She thought that he was a nightmare that had finally run its course. It was then that she felt his presence and knew for sure that it was real. Trigun had returned.

An earshattering crill filled her head. She pressed her hands on her ears, willing it to vanish. A different, lower type of alarm set off not too much later. Robin could be heard shouting, "Titans, trouble!" She shook her head and the crill faded slightly.

"A temple was broken into. Some gem has been stolen." He paused. "But on the bright side, it's only the H.I.V.E, so we won't be up against someone we don't know."

(Meanwhile) Jinx held the gem, turning it in her hand.

"Why something is something so normal being demanded by the master?"

Gizmo sighed. "Does it matter? Let's go!" Jinx grumbled and Gizmo turned to the temple door.

"Titans give it your all! Let's go!" He didn't want to waste time on the HIVE ,obviously. Starfire threw firebolts at Jinx without success, as she dodged every shot. Cyborg shot laser cannons at Mammoth. Robin ran at Gizmo with Beast Boy. And Raven levitated just above the ground, hands held firmly to her head, eyes squeezed tightly shut. She collasped as four red eyes played in the shadow. She wanted to shout a warning but nothing but a trickle of blood came from her mouth. The stained glass window of the building were encased in her black aura before the windows shattered. The sound of spliting wood could be heard, strangly enough and smoke could be smelt.

The gem, held so securely in Jinx's hand, then was wrapped in Raven's power. Jinx glared openly and yelp as the power grew, forcing her fingers to open. The energy swallowed the but it neither broke nor cracked. It simply vanished, disappeaering without a trace into the thin air.

A sound finally peeled from Raven. A short whimper, and then she could not stay awake any longer.

It felt late when she finally woke up. BB snored, head laying on a deskside table. Starfire dozed also alsleep in a sitting position on one of Robin's office chairs.

Beast Boy jumped awake. "Hey! You're up!" he muttered, sleepily.

She nodded. "How long was I out?"

"About a week."

"A week!" Her mind raced. "What!"

Beast Boy about fell out of his chair giggling. "No, only for a day." He walked to Star and poked her warily in the arm. "Wakey, wakey," he said.

She blinked to see Raven sitting up. Withinthe blink of an eye she sat aside Raven's bed. "Friend! You are unharmed?"

"I'm not sure what happend."

"Well, you kept Jinx and her crew from taking the stone but we don't know where it is either."

"I see," she said absently. All that was before her now was the four red eyes under the cover of shadow. 


	2. Pearls That Were His Eyes

It had been a lazy two days since Raven's wake. The lazy contemplation was different from the Titan's strutured routine of the past weeks and months.

During those two days, Raven had slept better than she'd expected, lulled by a quiet, exhausted strain on her emoutions. There'd been no dreams to haunt her from the time she'd turned back sheets until the first light had fallen over earth. She felt like a weight had lifted off of her. Even the brief, torrid embrace of the dark and being alone had began to fade into little more than a ghost.

Today, breakfast was impossible. A positive energy she'd so meticulously held off was straining for freedom.

Cyborg spent a humbling morning trying to make a breakfast for everyone that please everyone. Robin's request cinnamon toast ended up burnt beyond beleif. Starfire's pancakes with mustard turned out alright but still managed to gross everyone out. Cyborg refused to touch anything tofu, and so, Beast Boy refused to let him make his breakfast. Raven had a simple peice of toast with jelly, much to Cyborg's releif.

It was around noon and in her room that Raven heard the voice.

("You know only a heap of broken images, where the sun beats. The dead tree will give no releif. Only a shadow is under a red rock and under the shadow of the red rock will you go. There I will show you something different from your shadow at morning striding behind you or you shadow at evening rising to meet you.") Her eyes widened. The words were crypt and echoed, carving themselves a permenant way into her head.

She walked into the living area, expecting to see Beast Boy and Cyborg playing video games. But no one was there.

'Maybe Robin and Star are training,' she thought, heading to the workout room before the training course. Instinct told her that they wouldn't be there and it proved correct.

"They might have gone to get pizza..." Although her feelings would be hurt because they hadn't asked her, she'd still hoped they were out.

("You will not find them. Did you know those were pearls that were his eyes?")

She blocked the voice. The mentioning of pearls was odd but she felt she'd rather not know. Raven already had an idea of whom the voice talked of.

("Hidden by shadow...")

She looked through the Tower some more, not really expecting to find anything.

Jump City was under the brown fog of a winter day. A mass of obscurred shapes flowed over the sidewalks, each person with their eyes fixed before their feet. For a moment Raven thought she saw Robin but as soon as she focased on him, a mist thickened.

("Death will finish undoing them.")

And then she saw Beast Boy. She dove at him shouting his name. He looked upward in a sad light. "Hey."

"Where is everyone else?"

"In town," he replied vageuly.

Raven glared at him, grabbing both of his shoulders and giving him a hard shake. The mist grew ever thicker. "Where?" She asked, the word as sharp as a knife. The world hushed and closed within itself but the footsteps continued and spread quickly. Then they were savagely still.

Something from Beast Boy's mouth...Was it words? Before she could find out, he faded beneath her hands.

"Beast Boy, if this is your idea of a joke, I think that your sense of humor has shrunken farther."

("I think we are in rats' alley, where the dead men lost their bones.") Raven shuddered and wished for the voice to be silenced. The wind shuffled around her ankles and then ruduced to nothing again. ("Remember the pearls that were his eyes.")

"Who is in my head!" Her emoutions had been hard to control but never had they talked to her with words in her mind, only in her mirror.

("If it rains, we shall play a game of chess, pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.")

"Aaarrgh!" Her friends had departed, leaving no sign of address. 

("Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.") The voice laughed.

"Raven?" Beast Boy. He reappeared in front of her, solidly.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"I-I don't know," was the stuttered answer. At their backs in a cold blast they could hear the rattle of bones, and a chuckle. Beast Boy and Raven sat on the ground, side by side, neither saying a word nor turning around.

A crackle formed slowly. The dirt around them was burning, the fire jumped from place to place as Raven continued to attempt to silence the voice.

("A current under the rain will pick your bones in whispers...")

("Shut up! Be silent and remain that way!")

The voice cackled and spoke no more. 


	3. Wait For a Knocking

With leaden bodies they'd gone back to the Tower. The chill weight of falling winter snow had made it more difficult. Moaning trees swayed blind, and the beat of sleet's ghostly fingertips tapped on the windows. Raven could not hear the lapping of water against the shore, whose music in her life had grown to have an almost human tone. She stared sullenly at it. 

"Can't you summon them Raven! Can't you do something?" Beast Boy's voice cracked with his effort to keep it quiet.

"I can't!" she nearly shouted, her voice cracking as well. Perhaps she could try, but it would weild no result.

Beast Boy slumped on the couch and crossed his arms. Raven, who was still listening for the sound of gentle waves and still watching the foggy city that was blurred by waves of snow and sleet, clenched her hands. An ashen gray movement, something other than snow had caught her attention. It seemed to be falling up. With a brisk pace set, she walked to the stairs. Maybe she could catch it on the roof. Her walk sped to a jog.

Beast Boy followed her. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just thought I saw something."

"That's not nothing! Go faster!" He pushed her from behind to earn a glare.

"Don't touch me."

"Fine, just go!"

They spilled onto the roof with only the cold to welcome them.

"Sooo...What did it look like?" Beast Boy asked.

"Ash, actully. It's probably nothing. You shouldn't have followed." The words froze as they hit the air.

"There's a feather over there. The wind could have caught it." He pointed to the feather. It struggled in a half-hearted manner to free itself from a drift of snow. It was dull gray and hard to keep their eyes on. Something magical about it made them glance to the sky. Raven waited for the voice to tell her something awful about the feather but it only hummed in an annoyed fashion.

Beast Boy shivered and said, "It's too cold up here for me. I'm going back inside." Before he could touch the doorknob,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," warned Raven.

"Why?"

"I've got a gut feeling that there's someone on the other side."

"Maybe it's Cyborg or Star or Robin."

"Why would they hide themselves?" she retorted.

Faced with this logic, he backed away from the door, muttering under his breath about how cold it was. Raven knocked on the door.

("With lidless eyes we will wait for a knock upon the door.")

"Hello?"

A thin sound broke from within. Beast Boy shapeshifted into a gorilla but not before saying, "Well, I'm ready." She took a deep breath and pushed it open. The first thing she noticed was the confused look upon the creature, as if they'd entered its home and not their own. Four broken pillars of wings the color of ash jutted from its clotted shoulders and back. The wings hung like a banner in defeat. He wore a black tunic that was stained blacker in some areas where he had, apparently been injured. Raven and Beast Boy stared with theirs mouths hung open. The winged creture bowed his head in greeting and then croached, holding a hand over his stomach.

"My name is Clasp. I'm sorry but I couldn't-" he paused and fell a little closer to the floor. "I couldn't unlock the door, so I teleported." Beast Boy nor Raven had moved an inch.

The interloper then fell all the way down, landing with a groan. The Titans woke from their shock all at once. They both grabbed one arm and half-carried, half-dragged Clasp to the couch. Raven inspected the broken bones in the wings first and shook her head.

"They look too shattered for mending." When she pulled her hand away, it was covered with soft feathers made sticky with blood.

"Robin's gonna have a fit about the couch," Beast Boy commented. "I hope their alright. What does this stupid angel have to do with their disappearence?" He knew he was only saying aloud what both he and Raven were thinking.

Raven nodded, turning her hand and then checking on the stranger's other wounds. There was a rather large stomach wound but it was hard to see, since they had laid Clasp on his stomach. There was a tear from his left shoulder blade to his neck and another injury on the back of his left calf. Beast Boy had fetched the first aid kit, so she applied bandages to the scratches.

("You cannot stand in the middle of this. He will lead you to the sea and that has nothing but offer but a well excavated grave.") She ignored the advice, and continued with the bandaging.

Clasp coughed violently, and Raven withdrew to stand beside Beast Boy, who had watched the scence but said nothing.

"What are we going to do?" he finally asked.

"I don't know," she sighed wearily. "When he wakes, we'll learn from him to see if he knows about what's going on."

"Okay...I'm going to try to do some research on Robin's computer. That's where he keeps all the files on past cases."

That raised an eyebrow. "You're doing what? Aren't you afraid of blowing something up?"

His face fell. "It might be a problem." He had one hand over his eyes, the other outstrected and ready to push the 'on' button for the computer.

The computer whizzed and whirred. An amazed Beast Boy whooped triumphantly and then stopped to see an equally amazed Raven's reaction.

"Load complete," a robic voice told him. He leaned foward over the keyboard dramatically and looked up blankly."

"Want help?"

"Yeah?"

Raven stared a search, typing in "Gadashi Temple".

"The temple that had the gem stolen from it...why?"

"The jewel disappeared before all of this happened."

"Why didn't I think of that?"

They both waited eagerly for the computer to finish its search.

* * *

Yush, a mild cliffie, I suppose 'coughcough'...I think I've got this going in the direction that I want it to go, but I definately open for suggestions! Because, you know, I'm not too sure. Forgive my typos, it's about 1:00AM...Sorry about another really early morning post. Atleast I got it up here!


End file.
